Silent Cries Kiayunik Tuhanak

About Silent Cries Kiayunik Tuhanak

“It happened every year during long weekends in September. That’s when all the planes, little planes start flying around Nunavut and NWT (North-Western Territory) collecting kids at camps. As soon as you hear that plane coming around you know what was gonna happen, some of them hide, run away… But the parents were always threatened if their kids didn’t get on that plane. All you could hear was mothers, grandmothers crying.”

Navalik Tologanak (Netflix-BANFF Diversity of Voices 2023 Alumni), journalist and emerging filmmaker shares her experience as a residential school survivor. Silent Cries (Kiayunik Tuhanak) documents the private meeting between Pope Francis and Inuit survivors on their land in July 2022. As a respected Elder, Navalik weaves her personal story into the narrative to bring an intimate perspective to a historic event and what followed.

CREDITS

Writer/Director/Producer: Navalik Tologanak
Cinematographer/Director of Photography: Kelly Saxberg
Music and Sound Design: Adrien Harpelle
Colourist and Graphics: Alyssa Kusik

About the Filmmaker

Navalik Tologanak is a proud Inuinnaq from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut who celebrates her heritage and traditions. She is a residential school survivor. Sent away to Inuvik and Yellowknife for 12 years, she lost traditional skills and her language. She fought hard to relearn Inuinnaqtun and graduated from the Indigenous Languages Program from the University of Victoria in 2019 at the age of 65.

She began her journalism career in 1995, writing for Nunavut news. She’s been photographing and documenting events in her community in Inuinnaqtut for 29 years. She would like to continue telling those stories using digital media to make a series of short films.

Navalik dedicates much of her time to community service. She was a board member of the NWT Status of Women Council and for the Pauktuutit Inuit Women’s Association of Canada. She was an Inuit board member for 13 years with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. She saw the great need for healing programs, and to reach out to those who were lost, or violated through abuse and loss of language. She is honoured to be chosen as one of the Inuit representatives as a committee member for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation steering committee.

Calls to Action:

“Learn about residential school survivors. Learn about Inuit culture and language. Learn about strong Inuit women.” — Navalik Tologanak, Director

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